Why Nigeria can’t adopt free floating FX regime —Emefiele

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has said that Nigeria cannot freely float the Naira at the foreign exchange market because such a policy would lead to foreign exchange spiral for Nigerians.

He stated this during an interview on Thursday on the sidelines of the on-going IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, United  States of America.

Emefiele said, “What that means is that we cannot adopt a free floating system. Doing that will create an exchange rate spiral for Nigerians as long as the demand surpasses supply of FX in Nigeria.

“We have been at this since 1986. That is why we are saying that whereas we are doing something to adjust the currency,  for example between 2015 and now we have adjusted the rate from.N155 /$1 to N410 -420/$1.that it is today.

“So we cannot be accused of not adjusting the currency. We have to be given the time to ensure that while we are looking at the exchange rate, we have to do something about demand and supply.”